“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties”
- Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United States

MasyaAllah, benar sangatlah kata-kata Harry Truman itu. Anda sudah tonton Yes Man? You should. Kerana di sebalik kelakar-kelakar comel and Jim Carey’s slapstick antics, terselit underlying moral yang menyentuh jiwa saya: That if you open your life to new challenges, you might be pleasantly surprised. Okay, so that may not always be the case, things could turn out wrong, but at the very least, you can say, “I’ve tried and I failed but at least I tried”. I, for one, often fail to try. I am not open to new stuffs. Saya jenis yang sungguh selesa dalam zon selesa saya. I can be flexible if I want to, but most of the time I choose to be a control freak.

Like for instance, I’m always amazed by the idea of going bungee jumping. Tapi dalam dunia saya, being amazed hanya bermaksud ‘merasa kagum dan mengkagumi sesiapa yang melakukannya serta teruja with the idea of it’. Ia tidak bermaksud ‘teruja dan teringin melakukannya’. Kalau anda ajak saya pergi bungee jumping hari ini, saya akan dengan laju jawab, “No thanks”. Kalau anda beri saya RM1000 untuk melakukannya, saya masih akan tidak mahu dan jawab, “Tempting, but no thanks”. Kalau RM10,000, I’d probably say, “Yes, let’s do it, provided that I and/or my family can sue you if anything happens to me”. Ya, persetujuan bersyarat.

Hujung minggu lalu saya ke Bukit Indah untuk minum petang dengan Suami. Ada uji bakat lakonan Pilih Kasih yang jurinya adalah Rosyam Noor dan Erma Fatima. I have to say that saya sangat kagum dengan semua yang sertai uji bakat itu. Yang memang hadir untuk uji bakat, itu tak mengapalah, golongan itu memang kepingin dan hadir bersedia. Saya kagum dengan orang-orang yang datang berjalan-jalan lalu nampak uji bakat and decided, “What the heck, I want to showcase my talent.” Some made complete fool of themselves but they didn’t care! I envy them for their spontaneity, really. I would not do that. Memang partly because I don’t have the talent, but mostly because I am not a spontaneous person.

Tim McGraw put it in Live Like You Were Dying, “Some day I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying, like tomorrow was the end, and you got eternity to think about what to do with it. What should you do with it? What can I do with it? What would I do with it?"

I hope I will someday. So peeps, are you ready to say YES to every opportunity presented before you? I know I’m not. Yet.